Whether for humanitarian, diplomatic, business, or security reasons, or to build bridges between cultures, the ability of U.S. professionals to communicate in a range of languages is essential to promoting peace, stability, and prosperity. CHS' Critical Languages Initiative operates on the principle that to constructively engage people and governments throughout the world, professionals in the U.S. must be able to communicate effectively in languages that have often been overlooked in the public school system.

The goals of the initiative are to: (1) provide instructors of critical languages with professional growth opportunities and best practices in language acquisition and cultural competency; and (2) develop exemplary language learning materials in the target language.

The new CHS program entitled "CHS/McDaniel Summer STARTALK Institute on Arabic and Chinese Language Instruction,” funded by the National Security Agency’s STARTALK program is part of this initiative. CHS, in partnership with McDaniel College, is administering the STARTALK program for instructors of Arabic and Chinese.

The four-week, 90-hour program gives students three graduate credits upon completion. The course is directed to Mandarin and Arabic language instructors, prospective language teachers highly proficient in Arabic or Mandarin, and guest teachers from China.

The CHS/McDaniel Summer Institute supports STARTALK’s mission to increase the numbers of highly qualified K-12 teachers of Arabic and Mandarin. The curriculum meets the National Standards for Foreign Language Education and best practices in teaching Arabic and Chinese. The program provides assistance to prospective teachers to navigate the state certification process and guidance for guest teachers to address cultural differences they may face while teaching in American schools.

For more information, please contact Grogan Ullah at gullah@urc-chs.com or Ruby Costea at rcostea@mcdaniel.edu.

To learn more or register for the STARTALK program visit http://www.mcdaniel.edu/10041.htm.

Back to top